Tremolo generating device having sound reflecting rotary member

ABSTRACT

A sound effect generating device for use in an electronic musical instrument comprises a speaker, and a rotary member having a sound reflecting curved wall and a sheltering upper wall spreading over the sound reflecting wall, the sheltering upper wall having an irregularily cutout portion. The rotary member is rotatable adjacent to the speaker, bringing the sound reflecting wall periodically in confronting relationship with respect to the speaker, whereby the sound emitted from the speaker is reflected by the sound reflecting wall and thereafter radiated through the irregularily cutout portion of the sheltering upper wall, producing a resultant complicated tremolo or like musical effect.

Nagai 5] June 11, 1974 TREMOLO GENERATING DEVICE HAVING SOUND REFLECTING ROTARY MEMBER 3,192,322 6/1965 Leslie 181/27 A Primary Examiner-Stephen J. Tomsky [75] Inventor: Yohei Nagai, Hamamatsu, Japan Attorney, Agent, or Firm cushman, Darby & [73] Assignee: Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Cushman Kaisha, Hamamatsu-shi, Japan 22 Filed: June 4, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT A sound effect generating device for use in an elec- [211 Appl 9 tronic musical instrument comprises a speaker, and a I rotary member having a sound reflecting curved wall [30] Foreign Application Priority Data and a sheltering upper wall spreading over the sound June 8, 1972 Japan... 47-57251 reflecting Wall, the Sheltering PP Wall having regularily cutout portion, The rotary member is rotat- 52 us. a. 181/31 B, 181/27 A able adjacent to the speaker, g g the sound 51] 1111.01 G10k 13/00, H04r 1/28' fleeting Wall Periodically in confronting relationship [58] Field of Search .1 .Q l8l/2 7 A, 31 B with respect to the speaker whereby the sound emit l I ted from the speaker is reflected by the sound reflect- [56] References Cited ing wall and thereafter radiated through the irregularily cutout portion of the sheltering upper wall, 2 062 5 l5 Z JL PATENTS 18 N A producing a resultant complicated tremolo or like muosc e 2,450,139 9/1948 Hartsough.... 181/27 A Slcal effect. 2,780,302 2/l957 George 18'1/27 A 9 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures l l I l l j 8 E 2 7 22 I 2\ 1 3 5 g a SP 1 77771 5 A L\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\I\ l T I I 25 9 2| l6 PATENTEDJUNI 1 mm 3.8 15706 SHEET 10F 3 FIG. I PRIOR ART FIG. 2 FIG. 3 PRIOR ART PRIOR ART FIG. 4 v I FIG. 5 PR'OR ART PRIOR ART R 8 In] I PATENTEDJUN 1 1 m4 3L8 125L706 SHEET 2 BF 3 FIG. 6 PRIOR ART PATENTEDJUNII m4 3815706 Q SHEET 30F 3 FIG. 9

FIG. l2

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field. of the Invention The genral object of the present invention is to provide a sound effect generating device for electronic musical instrument, which produces tremolo and chorus effects of sufficient variation through the rotation of a sound reflecting member rotatably disposed adjacent to a speaker.

2. Description of the Prior Art There are some reference as prior art as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 22436/65 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,722, which are provided with a rotary plate in front of a speaker thereby producing a tremolo effect, respectively.

The former one is as shown in FIG. 1 wherein a sound generating reflection plate 3 is pivotally received at its center to a rotary shaft 2 at its one end so as to rotatably move within a optional plane, and a sleeve 4 slidably mounted on the shaft 2 is connected to a side portion of the sound reflection plate 3 with a connector 5, and a speaker 6 is provided opposite to the plate 3, whereby a tremolo effect is produced by tiltably rotating the sound reflection plate 3.

The latter disclosed in said U.S. Patent is provided with a rotating disk 7A having spaced apertures or rotary member 78 having fan-like extensions in front of a plurality of speakers 6 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The

rotary disk (or. member) 7A (or 7B) is rotatedat a required speed via a belt by a motor 1 thereby giving a tremolo effect to a sound produced from the speakers 6.

In such devices, however, the speaker or speakers are mounted stationary, and as a result, the sound produced is given only a flat tonal variation, with a resultant defect that no musically satisfactory tremolo effect can be obtained.

Further to the aboves, there are found other sound effect generating devices that produce vibrato or tremolo effect by rotating speakers themselves in horizontal plane, as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,l00,024 and 3,084,585.

As is shown in. FIGS. 4 and S, the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,100,024 is arranged such that a cylindrical speaker structure 8 including a plurality of speakers 6 as shown in FIG. is rotated via a belt and rotary shaft by a motor 1 and said speakers are to be supplied low frequency currents through slip-rings R. This system provides that thespeakers are rotated in a same plane thereby producing some vibrato effect but such vibrato lacks a variation of the sound. No musically satisfied sound was obtained.

The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,585 shown in FIG. 6 and is provided with speakers 6 mounted in a circular supporting disk 9 rotated about an axis la of a motor 1. The supporting disk 9 is also rotated about another axis-perpendicular to the axis 1a, thereby producing vibrato or tremolo effect due to Doppler effect. However such sound does not yet give a satisfactory musical sound of tremolo effect since such sound cannot be enhanced in a vertical direction because the speakers rotate only in horizontal plane, radiating the sound in the same plane.

As described aforegoing, conventional devices give no satisfactory musical audio-sound effect for the listeners and players.

- SUMMARY OF INVENTION The general object of the present invention is to provide a sound effect generating .device for electronic musical instrument, which produces tremolo and chorus effects of sufficient variation through the rotation of a sound reflecting member rotatably disposed adjacent to a speaker.

According to an aspect of the invention, the sound effect generating device comprises a speaker, and a rotary member rotatably disposed adjacent to the speaker, the rotary member having a sound reflecting curved wall, the rotation of the rotary member bringing the sound reflecting wall periodically in confronting relationship with respect to the speaker. 7

According to another aspect of the invention, the above-mentioned rotary member further has a sheltering upper wall spreading over the sound reflecting wall, the sheltering upper wall having an irregularily cutout portion.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the sound effect generating device further comprises another rotary member rotatable concentrically with respect to the first-mentioned rotary member, said another rotary memberhaving a sound reflecting curved wall, the rotation of said another rotary member bringing the sound reflecting wall thereof periodically in confronting relationship with respect to the speaker.

According to a still further aspect of the invention,

- the above-mentioned speaker is rotatable.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING FIGS. 1-6 are constitutional figures showing prior art devices producing a tremolo or similar effect;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of one embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a rotary member used in this invention;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing another modification of this invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the rotary member shown in FIG. 9; and FIGS. ll--l2 are sectional views showing further modifications of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Now, the preferred embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 7, on a base 10 is rigidly mounted a speaker SP by means of an L shape fixture l1, and a rotary member 12 is pivotably fixed to the base 10 through a rotary shaft 13.

The rotary shaft 13 is rigidly connected at the upper end to the rotary member 12 and at the lower end to apulley 14, which is connected to a pulley 16 of a motor M by means of a belt l5,so that the rotational force of the motor M is transmitted to the pulley 14, thereby rotating the rotary member 12 about the shaft 13. The rotational speed of the rotary member 12 is usually set to 05-15 revolutions per second.

The rotary member 12 has a vertical concaved wall 12a depicting a curvature conforming to an arc of a circle having a center at the shaft 13. The abovementioned circle is indicated by a chain line A in FIG.

8. The rotary member 12 further has a sheltering upper wall 12b extending horizontally from the vertical concaved wall 12a up to the shaft 13. The sheltering upper wall 12b has irregularily cutout portions 12c and 12d. The irregularily cutout portion 12c is an irregularily shaped end edge of the upper wall 12b, and the other irregularily cutout portion l2dis an irregularily shaped opening provided in the upper wall 12b. 1

The aforesaid rotary shaft 13 is connected to the upper wall 12b of the rotary member 12.

The speaker SP is disposed-within the circle A adjacent to the circumference thereof and is so directed as to radiate sound toward the rotary shaft 13. The rotation of the rotary member 12 about the shaft 13 brings the vertical concaved wall 12a periodically in confronting relationship with respect to the speaker SP.

Consequently, when the rotary member 12 is rotated in an arrow direction shown in FIG. 8 the vertical concaved wall 12a comes periodically in front of the speaker SP, and at each time a sound emitted from the speaker SP is reflected by the wall 12a and thereafter radiated through the cutout portions 120 and 12d, with a result that the sound is heard with a complicated tremolo effect and chorus effect. a

A modification of this invention is hereinafter described.

In FIG. 9, another rotary member 17 is provided in addition to the sound effect generating device shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. The rotary member 17 is fixed to a rotary shaft 18, which is rotatable about'the shaft 13 separately from the latter shaft 13. The rotary shaft 18 is fixed at its lower end to a pulley 19, which in turn is rotatably connected to another pulley 21 of the motor M by means of a belt 20, so that the rotational force is transmitted from the motor M to the rotary member The rotary member 17 comprises a vertical plate member having a sound reflecting curved wall, as shown in FIG. 10 and further indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 8. The rotation of the rotary member 17 also permits the sound reflecting curved wall thereof to come periodically in confronting relationship with respect to the speaker SP, at each time reflecting sound emitted from the speaker. The sound thus reflected by the rotary member 17 is further reflected and radiated in the same manner as explained in the previous embodiment.

Therefore, both rotary members 12 and 17 provide a complicated sound passage, and the sound passing through said passage is radiated with a more musically complicated variable tremolo effect.

FIG. 11 shows another modification wherein another motor M is added to rotate the rotary shaft 18.

According to this embodiment, therefore, the rotary member 17 is rotatable at a rotational speed different from that of the rotarymember 12, as desired.

Further modification is shown in FIG. 12 wherein the speaker SP itself is made rotatable. The speaker SP is fixed to a rotary shaft 22, which is rotatably mounted on the base 10. The rotary shaft 22 is fixed at its lower end to'a pulley 23 coupled to a pulley 25 of the motor M through a belt 24, so that the rotation of the motor M is transmitted to the rotary shaft 22 to rotate the speaker SP. According to this embodiment, therefore, the speaker SP itself is permitted to rotate about the rotary shaft 22, radiating sound therearound and as a result producing a more complicated sound effect.

As described above, according to this invention the rotary member having the sound reflecting curved wall is rotated adjacent to the speaker, and the sound emitted from the speaker is effectively reflected by the rotating sound reflecting wall. Further. the sound thus reflected may be radiated through the irregularily cutout portion or portions, with a result that the radiating sound becomes more complicated. Still further, rotating the speaker simultaneously, more clear frequency modulation is effected and placing a suitable sound absorber member and a sound reflection member within the rotary member, more satisfactory sound with a good tremolo effect is obtained.

When the rotary members 12 and 17 are so arranged as to rotate in reverse directions from each other, as indicated by arrows in FIG. 8, more complicated tremolo effect is obtained.

As clearly apparent, the device according to this invention is most suitable for tremolo generating devices in electronic musical instruments.

What I claim is:

1. Sound effect producing device comprising a first rotary member rotatable about an axis depicting a circle having a center at said axis, said rotary member having a sound reflecting curved wall rotatable at a distance from said axis; means for rotating said rotary member; and a sound emitting member disposed adjacent. to within the circumference of said circle and emitting sound in a direction from the circumference of the circle to the center thereof, the rotation of said rotating member bringing said sound reflecting curved wall periodically in confronting relationship with re-- spect to the sound emitting member, whereby the sound emitted from the sound emitting member is periodically reflected by said sound reflecting curved wall.

2. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rotary member further has a sheltering wall spreading-over said sound reflecting curved wall, said sheltering wall having at least one portion cutout in an irregular shape to permit the sound reflected by the sound reflecting wall to be radiated therethrough.

3. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second rotary member rotatable about said axis, and means for rotating said second rotary member, said second rotary member rotating separately from said first rotary member, said second rotary member having a curved wall, the rotation of said second rotary member bringing said curved wall of said second rotary member periodically in confronting relation with respect to the sound emitting member.

4. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a second rotary member rotatable about said axis, and means for rotating said second rotary member, said second rotary member rotating separately from said first rotary member, said second rotary member having a curved wall, the rotation of said second rotary member bringing said curved wall of said second rotary member periodically in confronting relationship with respect to the sound emitting member.

5. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sound emitting member is rotatable.

6. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 4, wherein said sound emitting member is rotatable.

rotary members are one common motor 9. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said means for rotating said first and second rotary members are one common motor, and said rotatable sound emitting member is rotated by said common 

1. Sound effect producing device comprising a first rotary member rotatable about an axis depicting a circle having a center at said axis, said rotary member having a sound reflecting curved wall rotatable at a distance from said axis; means for rotating said rotary member; and a sound emitting member disposed adjacent to within the circumference of said circle and emitting sound in a direction from the circumference of the circle to the center thereof, the rotation of said rotating member bringing said sound reflecting curved wall periodically in confronting relationship with respect to the sound emitting member, whereby the sound emitted from the sound emitting member is periodically reflected by said sound reflecting curved wall.
 2. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rotary member further has a sheltering wall spreading over said sound reflecting curved wall, said sheltering wall having at least one portion cutout in an irregular shape to permit the sound reflected by the sound reflecting wall to be radiated therethrough.
 3. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second rotary member rotatable about said axis, and means for rotating said second rotary member, said second rotary member rotating separately from said first rotary member, said second rotary member having a curved wall, the rotation of said second rotary member bringing said curved wall of said second rotary member periodically in confronting relation with respect to the sound emitting member.
 4. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a second rotary member rotatable about said axis, and means for rotating said second rotary member, said second rotary member rotating separately from said first rotary member, said second rotary member having a curved wall, the rotation of said second rotary member bringing said curved wall of said second rotary member periodically in confronting relationship with respect to the sound emitting member.
 5. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sound emitting member is rotatable.
 6. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 4, wherein said sound emitting member is rotatable.
 7. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said means for rotating said first and second rotary members are a pair of motors, one of said motors rotating said first rotary member and the other of said motors rotating said second rotary member.
 8. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein said means for rotating said first and second rotary members are one common motor.
 9. Sound effect producing device as claimed in claim 6, wherein said means for rotating said first and second rotary members are one common motor, and said rotatable sound emitting member is rotated by said common motor. 